While there was no official commemoration of Wang’s death in China on Monday, analysts said the significance of the Hainan incident for the PLA could not be underestimated.

“His death was an accident but it set off many changes,” said Beijing-based military expert Zhou Chenming. “What happened 18 years ago spurred China to step up the modernisation of its military, especially aircraft development for the air force and navy.”

According to Zhou, the military’s top brass became determined to upgrade navy aircraft after the incident, eventually replacing all J-8 fighter jets with fourth-generation J-10 and J-11 fighter jets and JH-7 bombers. In addition to the new and more advanced models, the PLA also invested heavily in improving the features of its aircraft, such as emergency exit systems.

“Since then, the Chinese navy has set up a comprehensive air patrol system in the East and South China seas, while the advanced J-11 fighters now play the key role in dealing with all kinds of air confrontation with foreign counterparts,” Zhou said.

China began developing the country’s first stealth fighter, the J-20, in 2007. It was seen as a competitor to America’s fifth-generation jets, the F-22 and F-35, when they were launched in 2011, and was formally commissioned by the PLA in 2017.

‘Time for tougher deterrence from China’ as US steps up patrols in South China Sea

Beijing-based naval expert Li Jie said the Hainan incident pushed the PLA to develop a strategy focused more on offshore defence than the onshore strategy advocated by late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping.

“China was not well versed in giving ‘professional and rational’ responses when the collision happened in 2001 because it followed this more inward-looking defence doctrine,” Li said.

Zhou said that the mid-air collision also helped to elevate the position of the Chinese navy, driving the leadership to allocate more naval resources and accelerate the modernisation programme. “Previously, the PLA was more focused on its army and the Chinese navy played a secondary role,” he said.

The incident sparked an 11-day diplomatic stand-off between Beijing and Washington, with each side blaming the other. All 24 American crew members were held by China after their damaged aircraft made an emergency landing on Hainan Island.

In recent years, Beijing has accused the US of sending warships and aircraft on reconnaissance missions near Hainan, where the PLA has set up its biggest naval base in Asia, but the American navy says it was conducting freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea.

Li said that if a similar collision happened today, “the consequences could be very different because the PLA now has more advanced aircraft, and it has set up a comprehensive crisis management system to deal with all kinds of provocations by the Americans”.

“The 2001 crash taught China a lesson – that a strong country cannot rely on a vibrant economy alone but also needs a strong military,” Li said. “That’s what they refer to as ‘comprehensive national strength’.”

Taiwan will forcefully expel PLA warplanes next time: Tsai Ing-wen

Since the incident, and amid growing rivalry between China and the US, there have been more military stand-offs between the two sides. In 2017, two Chinese Su-30 fighter jets came within just 45 metres (150 feet) of an American plane, with one of the Su-30s flying inverted as it tried to intercept a US radiation detection plane over the East China Sea, according to the US Pacific Air Forces.

But Song Zhongping, a military commentator with Phoenix TV, believes a repeat of the Hainan incident was less likely now. “Having had these more frequent encounters, the PLA is better prepared and has become more confident in dealing with the Americans professionally and safely,” Song said.

“However, the US will not stop its so-called freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea, because the PLA – which they paid little attention to 18 years ago – now poses a real threat to them.”